that initial ferocious opposition by lindsey graham and kelly ayotte and john mccain, a big press conference and really took a stance. the administration decides to send her up to try to repair things. they come out of the meeting, she obviously didn't graduate from any washington charm school, because even kelly ayotte it looked like they had just lost their best friend after that meeting. they were not happy. then there is another round of meetings and cork eri corker is saying he should withdraw the nomination. megyn: he said she would make a better dnc chair, that is debbie wasserman schultz job. >> it seems like a classic obama set up of the republicans. this is a way to bring up the whole war on women, meaning that republicans really don't understand women, look they don't have any female chairmen of their committees on capitol hill. they didn't get any of the female vote, and they just don't get it. they are doing this to this poor woman, and she is a great person and a great public servant. to me it seems like there is a political reason for continuing to, you know, trot h

met with three top republicans about libya. jenna: john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte criticized explanations rice given in the past and obviously today and on the attack in benghazi the meeting doesn't appear to help smooth away for rice's widely anticipated nomination as secretary of state. here is senator ayotte moments ago ago. >> when you have a position where your ambassador to the united nations you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparations and responsibilities for that job and that is troubling to me. jenna: kelly wright, live in washington with more. kelly, the three senators just held the news briefing which we played a little bit from kelly ayotte. tell us generally what was their response? what sort of reaction they had to what they heard inside that closed-door meeting? >> reporter: let's stay on focus on that because that is really telling. each senator saw the tone being stunned by the information they heard in this closed-door meeting with u.n. ambassador susan rice. they are significantly troubled they say, more than that ev

kelly ayotte said they are more concerned than before she came up to capitol hill to offer her explanation, and her changing story, not just her changing story but that of the administration. we are awaiting press secretary jay karen see and a comment on today's meeting. the conventional wisdom is they sent her up there to smooth over the waters before president obama nominates her. but they did not take miss rice's answers too well. >> i want to say i'm more troubled today knowing, having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice, because it is certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al-qaida were involved in the attack on the embassy, and clearly the impression that was given and the information given to the american people was wrong. megyn: senator kelly ae ayotte will join us live next hour. this will be her first public interview since she sat down with miss rice this morning. what exactly did ambassador rice say behind closed doors? why is senator yea a yeah at anayotte and the other two senators so fired up. this was supp

ayotte and their crusade against susan rice yesterday. dave writes in -- >> bill: yesterday. it has been on-going. >> yesterday they put themselves out in front of the camera again. dave says mccain and graham have backed themselves into a corner. if they back off now, they would lose more face than they already have. pat says mccain, graham, shut your damn mouths. quit compromising american security. >> yes. >> honey bear kelly who has the best name on twitter says -- we were saying one of the issues -- >> bill: is that honey bear kelly ayotte? >> no. not honey bear kelly ayotte. we were saying one of the issues would be if obama was to appoint john kerry then scott brown might weasel his way back into the senate. honey bear kelly says scott brown just lost an election. does anyone think he can win one now? that's a valid point. he's a loser. >> bill: what do you think of the campaign against susan rice? >> i have found it incredibly offensive. you are talking about a rhodes scholar, somebody who has 20 plus years in the diplomatic corps. also what that person tweeted. we're in the

ayotte who said we respectfully disagree with the white house statement that there are no unanswered question about ambassador rice's sunday appearance. they talk about the acting director of the c.i.a. saying that the c.i.a., the f.b.i. removes the references to al-qaeda in the talking points. to ple vent compromising and ongoing criminal investigation. they say, the senators say at 4:00 this afternoon, the c.i.a. officials contacted us and indicated that the acting director morrell misspoke in the earlier meeting and the c.i.a. says it deleted the al-qaeda reference, not the f.b.i. and unable to give us a reason why. one thing also about the al-qaeda being taken out, it was not just the five sunday shows blaminth spontaneous demonstration there wasn't, never a demonstration. susan rice said this. >> president obama said running for president he'd row focus our effort on al-qaeda. we decimateed al-qaeda. usama bin laden is gone. we decimateed al-qaeda. usama bin laden is dead. he said that al-qaeda was decimated in both interviews so that was a misleading impression to th

department. megyn: yesterday or two days ago weed a kelly ayotte who talked about originally when miss rice came to capitol hill to meet with her the cia acting director who was with her said it was the fbi who changed the talking points to remove the reference to al qaeda having been the ones behind that attack on our consulate. then later in the day they said they got a call from the acting cia director and miss rice saying that was the wrong information. it wasn't the fbi, it was us, the cia who changed the talking points. there is still a question about who specifically did it. has any light been shed on that? >> they are doing internal review of that and putting together a time line exactly who looked at the talking points and made that change to kind of reveal that information. but really the question is who gave those talking points to ambassador rice, who did direct the entire effort of changing the narrative. in the end i think what this is all about is this president and this administration -- somebody running for reelection didn't want the narrative that we killed bin laden

director mike morrell met with john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte over what rice knew the in the days after the deadly consulate attack in benghazi. all three claim to be more troubled after this meeting. >> we're significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16th september explanation about how four americans died by ambassador rice, i think, does not do justice to the reality at the time. >> clearly the impression that was begin, the information begin to the american people was wrong. in fact, ambassador rice said today, absolutely, it was wrong. >> and within the past hour the white house once again defended ambassador rice. >> focus on some might say obsession made on comments made on sunday shows seems, to me, and to many, to be misplaced. >> and the ambassador herself made this statement only a short time ago. it read in part, quote, i appreciated the opportunity to discuss these issues directly and structurive wi them. the administration remains committed to wo

, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte say they're even more troubled now after meeting with ambassador rice. the attack on libya on september 11 killed the u.s. ambassador, cries stevens and three other americans. five days later, ambassador rice went on the sunday talk shows and said u.s. officials believed it was a spontaneous reaction to protest over an anti-islam video. not a preplanned terrorist attack. first the controversy was over whether the white house made the change in the talking points. but that's past because intelligence officials say they gave ambassador rice those talking points. today senator graham called the information disconnected from reality. >> not only is the information bad and i'm more convinced than ever that it was bad, it was unjustified to give the scenario as presented by ambassador rice and president obama three weeks before an election. >> shepard: rice said while we wish we had had perfect information, just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. neither i nor anyone else in the administration inten

. meanwhile, we have a fiscal cliff to climb. her meetings with senators mccain and graham and ayotte created more questions than answers. ambassador susan rice taking her case to two more republicans today. peter doocy has more. >> you are right, brian. ambassador rice will meet with susan collins from maine and bob corker from tennessee . ahead of his meeting that what worries him most about ambassador rice she may be more concerned about delivering the party line than pressuring the administration when it might be off base. three other republican senators met with the embattled ambassador and that meeting did little to quiet their harsh criticism of her job performance. >> i am more concerned than i was before that the 15th of september explan of how four americans died in benghazi, libya. >> why she wouldn't have asked i am the person who doesn't know about this and going on every show. it is not only the talking points unclassified but part of her responsibility as the ambassador . united nations she reviewed more than that. >> in a written statement she knows that the intelligen

lindsey graham, kelly ayotte and -- >> they were upset. john mccain over the weekend. >> john mccain backed up. >> so it's really cool when she said i'm sorry. >> she did the brave thing and went right in there and said i want to -- >> how did that work. >> and talked about her initial account of the attack and explained to them she was relying on faulty intelligence and talking points from the intelligence community. >> they said? >> they said, you know what, we still don't get it. >> throw the video. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. it is clear that the information that she gave the american people was incorrect. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> if you don't know what happened just say you don't know what happened. people can push you to give explanations and i want to say -- >> i'm more troubled today knowing having met with the acting director of the cia and ambassador rice. clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people was wrong, in fact, ambassador r

. >> i would just ask the president to step back. >> senate republican kelly ayotte, who has threatened to block a rice nomination, joins us ahead. and powerball fever sweeping the nation. the jackpot now jumps to $500 million. the second highest in lottery history. what would you do with your winning ticket. >> i would take my entire family on a cruise around the world. >> a sports car for me. >> aston martin. >> i'll pinch myself. >> i would pinch myself too. good day, i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. thanks for joining us. you can bet this is not the way mitt romney had hoped to get to the white house. instead of measuring the drapes in the oval office he'll be the president's guest for lunch. their first meeting since that last debate. joining me now for our daily fix, chris cizilla, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and from "usa today" susan page. what do you think is on the menu? >> some people on twitter when i tweeted out suggest crow might be served. look, this is, i think, there's no press coverage. this is not closed press. there is no press c

doing with ayotte and graham and mccain coming out to talk about the fact that they're meeting with ambassador rice leaves them scratching their heads and with more questions? of course people want more answers to what happened in benghazi, but it's not up to ambassador rice. she's not fronting the investigation. >> no, but she's been part of that team that went on those sunday shows to talk act those issues to say it was a video that caused this. whether it was the talking points or the intelligence, she's the one in front of the tv cameras that said this. this is an audition to be the country's top diplomat. she's going into a hostile group, we would want her to have a better relationship after, not worse. she had three senators she knew she wasn't in a great relationship with. they seemed to be more open to her over the weekend. she went into a meeting and made it worse. regardless of what you think about susan rice -- >> were they really going to listen to her and come out and be, like, oh, god, we love susan rice now? i don't think that was ever going to be the backside of that

round of talks with senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte. and those meetings as we first reported to you yesterday did not appear to go very well. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with more. >> reporter: thank you, jenna. ambassador rice is meeting two more republicans senators bob corker and susan collins. you're looking at stakeout position on capitol hill. ambassador rice is expected to meet with six senators. if she is nominated as next secretary of state she will need six republicans to vote for her to region the magic number of 60 for confirmation. so far republicans are not convinced. >> yesterday in talking to some of those to whom she talked i'm absolutely convinced in my mind bill, she is part of the cover-up. she knew all the time the cia information that was given to her. >> reporter: senators graham, mccain and ayotte tellingers after yesterday's meeting that the information let them more disturbed and not reassured about rice's benghazi comments that which portrayed the a tack as a demonstration that spun out of

significant because yesterday she was facing three of her toughest critics. senators ayotte, graham and mccain, republicans who had from the get-go before they talked to her vowed -- or threatened to block her nomination. so that was one thing. today is different because that senator you just played, susan collins, is among the last remaining moderate republicans here. she does have a lot of information about what happened because she is the top republican on the homeland security committee, and she actually has a history of supporting susan rice. she was the one who introduced susan rice when she was at her confirmation hearing for the post she's in now as u.n. ambassador. so the fact that susan collins even has questions, i asked her point blank if she could support rice for secretary of state, and her answer was not yet. she has to have other questions answered. that's not a good sign for rice, but we should underscore a couple of things. one, she hasn't been nominated yet. and, two, she -- rice does have a lot of support from democrats who still have the majority. the issue is whether or n

did, from top gop lawmakers including these three senators, mccain, graham and ayotte. >> don't we all have the responsibility before we go out and talk to the american people on all five sunday morning shows for verifying those facts are true? >> the most basic information about what happened on the night of the attack, and what survivors had to say after the attack is not being provided and we'll talk more about that. bill: so you wonder then whether or not they will get the answers they're looking for. whether or not some of these questions will lead to even more questions. they will sit down in about 20 minutes from now. kelly wright is live in washington there. kelly, you're covering this morning. what is the expectation from this meeting on the hill? >> reporter: the expectations bill, they will get down to the bottom of this. at least that's what they will try to do. that is the most fundamental thing to these republican senators. they want to find out exactly what susan rice knew, before, during and after that attack. she has emerged, by the way as a frontrunner and possibl

no is surprise that john mccain lindsey graham and kelly ayotte would come out strong against susan rice and say essentially that they would try to block her confirmation if her nomination happens. it is much more of a surprise to hear susan collins referred to on capitol hill as one of the moderate republicans who is gettable on big votes like this. instead, what we heard is susan collins saying no, i'm not won over yet. you need to explain more about what happened both in benghazi and what happened in the aftermath of benghazi and that is a real problem. yesterday, we were talking about this earlier but yesterday was the first time that i heard democrats on the hill and we can ask senator about this but the first time we heard them say whoa, we don't think we have the votes to confirm sunnies a rice if we -- susan rice if we lose susan collins and other republicans like her. >> bill: susan collins, in her part of her statement yesterday she said that one of the things she had against susan rice was that what happened in benghazi was an eerie echo of the 1998 bombings of our embass

doug mentioned, while senators graham, ayotte and mccain are focused on what susan rice, ambassador rice said on the sunday talk shows, they are not asking any questions at all about the real questions about security there at the consulate in benghazi. that's where their interest and focus and ire should be pointed. not at a u.n. ambassador who went on the sunday talk shows as a spokesperson for the administration giving, imparting the information she was given by the intelligence community. >> and susan, for those just joining us. this happened moments ago in the last hour. i want to remind everyone what the three senators had to say. take a look. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think, does not do justice to the reality at the time. >> clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people was wrong, in fact, ambassador rice said

john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte tried to drive a stake through rice's nomination chances, susan colins and bob corker rose up out of the ground to sink they're teeth into her. "the washington post" today reports a white house official and democratic aides say they think rice could win senate confirmation from the top diplomatic job if obama nominated her. however the piece note her confirmation could come at a high political cost as lawmakers negotiate a deal on taxes and entitlement reform. and nbc news reports the president has yet to make up his mind over whether he will select rice or massachusetts senator, john kerry. but they say the clock is ticking and a nominee might be announced as early as next week. wow. that's -- i mean that's a tease, huh? but here's the question. here's my question. ryan, i will ask you this first. are republicans going to spend the political capital they must to dead the susan rice nomination? i'll read from the hilling privately come republicans prefer to avoid a bitter political fight over rice, an african-american woman viewed as compet

confirmation battle. i asked kelly ayotte yesterday, she said, no, it was on the substance. have we had others who have gone on sunday television talk shows, made mistakes and not punished as severely as susan rice? >> i think there is a double standard, not necessarily with punishment for the talk shows, because i don't think this is about comments that were basically right that she made on sunday talk shows. i think this is about a lot of other things including a personality that even susan rice's friends say can be abrasive, sharp elbowed. all sorts of things that i think it's easier for men to get away with even men in diplomatic jobs, than for women. and i think women are in an odd role those days. women in the senate, i'm going to be writing about this for a column in tomorrow's paper, the women in the senate talk about how women are terrific at being collegial and getting things done and learning how to cooperate. if you're a woman like susan rice who is not necessarily in that kind of female nurturer collegial role but sort of elbows out, tough player, i think you actually g

more questions and concerns about that night in benghazi. here is senator ayotte. >> we know from previous information that the class need talking points said clearly that al-qaida -- individuals associated with al-qaida, or with ties to al-qaida r- were involved in the attack. that was then omitted from the unclassified talking points. she had reviewed the classified talking points. when you look at what she said cbs, face the nation, also on "meet the press," not only was that piece omitted, also she said that al-qaida was decimated. martha: this is a new report that claims that benghazi was not the only al-qaida-linked terror attack on september 11th. were some of those other attacks al-qaida inspired or linked. that is a big tor story we are pursuing. we are joined by peter king. chairman of the homeland community. good to see you. >> good to be with you. martha: if susan rice is indeed considered for secretary of state we need to know where she stands on the issue of al-qaida and whether or not she believes that al-qaida is still a threat, is a growing threat. she says they w

critics? lindsey graham and senator kelly ayotte. she has said not only does she want sufficient explanation, she wants to see documentation as well. she's working from memos and talking points from the intelligence community, let's see them. we'll see what happens after this meeting today. laura. >> we will. thank you very much. >>> it is 5:42. republicans on capitol hill may be willing to back off an old pledge not to raise taxes to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. some prominent republican senators, who were dead set against tax hikes, may consider other alternatives. gop senator bob corker has a ten-year, $4.5 billion proposal that hits the wealthiest, but it also curbs social security and medicare benefits. so far he's not garnered any democratic support. >> you don't raise rates, you just cap the amount of itemized deductions that taxpayers -- it hits the wealthy. >> there's going to come a point in time where we can't borrow any more money and interest rates are going to skyrocket. >> this congress is one vote away from avoiding the fiscal cliff. >> if a budget deal is no

roaring back in most parts of the middle east. >> the republicans senators mccain and ayotte will drill down and find out what happened and critics are tough on rice. but the white house is continuing to show strong support. >> ambassador rice has done an excellent job at the united nations and highly qualified for any number of positions in the foreign policy arena and i will leave it at that. >> today's meeting place between ambassador rice and her staunchest critics on capitol hill. after his reelection president obama took exception to republican senators critical of rice saying if they want to come after anyone they should come after me. >> gretchen: we remember that. why is no one talking about susan rice, she went out on the talk shows and got the talking points from the white house and said what they wanted her to say. >> brian: she said the intelligence. >> gretchen: that's why she would be secretary of state. she did what she was asked to do and did it well and it worked with the electorate you could argue and now she will be secretary of state. what is going to stop it?

fences with three republican senators. she angered john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte for her initial comments made on several tv networks that seemed to play down the role of al qaeda terrorists on the attack in benghazi, libya. that attack killed four americans, including u.s. ambassador chris stevens. rice maintains that she made it very clear, the intelligence information she had at the time was preliminary. senators are threatening to block her nomination if president obama chooses her to be his next secretary of state. >>> president obama and vice president joe biden will meet with mexico's president-elect today. pena kneeate toe has a new message. in an editorial in "the washington post" he said the u.s./mexico relations need to go beyond drugs and security concerns. topping his list, deepening economic ties with the united states. >>> the remains of former palestinian leader yasser arafat were exhumed this morning from a mausoleum in the west bank. many palestinians believe that arafat was poisoned by israel when he died in 2004. now, an international team of scientist

graham, mccain, ayotte meeting did not go well, and they are kind of leading the charge on the benghazi questions. it wasn't expected to go really great, but the next meeting with susan collins, the senator who stood by her side in her nomination for u.n. ambassador, also did not go well. and susanlly a vote that i think the white house is counting onto get confirmation. they need five republicans to side with democrats to get that nomination through, let alone any republican that could put a hold on the nomination if it's announced. so i think the white house is making a calculation now and really counting numbers before this decision is made. martha: i mean, as you point out the susan collins meeting has to raise questions for them at the white house. the president, at least in every public way possible has shown a lot of support for her, and it real any some ways comes down to the question of whether or not he feels very emboldened by the election and believes that this benghazi thing is something that is going to go away. they have to make that calculation, because she will

senators mccain, graham and kelly ayotte saying in part in the course of the meeting we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community and the initial assessment upon which they were based were incorrect in the key respect. there was no protester demonstration in benghazi. while we certainly wish that we had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. we stressed neither i nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the american people at any stage in this process. and administration updated congress and the american people as our assessments involve. -- the fall. that's a statement from a ambassador rice. >> negotiations continue with president obama and congressional leaders about the fiscal cliff. we took your phone calls this morning on "washington journal" about that. >> host: at the daily news conference at the white house, jay carney, the spokesman there was asked about liberals who are advocating going off the so-called fiscal cliff. here's what he had to say. >>

benghazi, libya. senators john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte say they are more troubled now than before they had that meeting and all indications are they are still against the president's nominating rice for secretary of state. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before. >> apparently she misled the american public. i think that she would say that. she'd have to say that. >> cnn foreign affairs reporter elise labott is live in washington. really nice to see you elise. why are rice's critics saying they are more concerned now? >> well, zoraida, they're concerned because it turns out that there was some information in classified settings that ambassador rice told the senators about that did indicate that al qaeda possibly was involved, that this could be a terrorist attack. and when she sat down with those senators yesterday, what she said was that there were unclassified talking points provided by the cia that just talked about this so-called spontaneous protest. but a